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Friday, January 11, 2013

I first read Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time when I was in 5th grade. I loved it then – even if I didn’t understand
it all. It was wonderful to read of
lonely misfit kids like myself. They were nerdy and unpopular, like me. And I loved them. It was perfect. It was wonderful. I have, in the years since, read, and re-read
Wrinkle and the following books in
the series. In fact I have read
everything of hers that I could get my hands on. Reading and re-reading them over and over and
over again. I say this without embarrassment – I love
Madeline L’Engle. And I have ever since
I picked up that battered paperback in the school library.

There was an adaption of the book made for television a few
years ago – but I refused to watch it.
(It was Disney after
all!) When asked in an interview if the film
met her expectations, Madeline L’Engle responded, “Yes. I expected it to be bad, and it was.” [i] In her book Bright Evening Star L’Engle writes about reading the screenplay for
this televised version of her book, and knowing immediately that it was going
to be bad. On the cover page was the
title A Wrinkle in Time followed by
the tagline “Love is Power.” That’s when she knew that the screenplay author
had failed to understand her book.

Because Love (capital L Love) is not power. Love is giving
away power.

And though I am older and have read, and re-read this book many times over,
this still baffles me. I am still
learning how to give myself away.

I have children now.
Two of them, one of each kind.
And they both love to read. But, and
I cannot understand this, they have thus far refused to read A Wrinkle in Time and the rest of the
books concerning the Murry and O’Keefe families. I am flummoxed. I am bewildered. How can they
not want to read this book? I want them
to read it and to love it as much as I have.
I bought my daughter her very own copy of the book so she wouldn’t have
to feel weird about reading my copy… I’ve
suggested it to them both. I’ve encouraged them. I’ve even considered bribing them to read it.

But I think that this may not be right.
If they are to love it (capital L love it) then it cannot be forced upon
them. They will have to come to its
wonder and its mystery of their own.

And even though I have refused to watch (or to even
acknowledge the Disneyfied movie, I would like to see this opera based on the
book:

Wonderful! The most recent cognitive studies show that the act of reading itself (regardless of the content of the reading matter) measurably increases the cognitive ability of students in problem solving, memory retention, and reading comprehension generally.